Do you believe in magic? REAL magic? Maybe you should…

The key for us in watching a good magic show is being able to escape from the practical, logical mind and stop wondering about how David Copperfield or Penn & Teller do their acts and enjoy the illusions for what they are. As the old saying goes, don’t ruin the magic.

The illusions aren’t the same once you know how they’re done, or at least have thought of a plausible way for the trick to be accomplished. You spend all your time looking for the hook and not appreciating the trick for the trick.

Maybe we should have seen it coming, with the popularity of Harry Potter and running around like a wizard all the time. But there is real-for-real issues arising in some parts of the world that can’t necessarily be explained by a trick.

In New Guinea, more people are turning to witchcraft – particularly to black magic. And the penalties for being identified as a witch continue to be drastic.

No more are alleged witches drowned in public. No, in New Guinea one woman was stripped, bound, and burned. Another woman was beheaded.

Are they really practicing real witchcraft and sorcery? Who’s to know. But as more and more people begin to pick up the skills in those arts, maybe there is something to be said. After all, “natural causes” isn’t always a valid explanation for some deaths, right?